Sora
by Lifeofthe6
Summary: The princess of a distant land has been kidnapped! It's up to the flying skill and wit of a young F-15 Eagle pilot and his friends to save her! Can they do it before it's too late?
1. Act 1

Sora

**Sora**

A single F-15 Eagle flies just below the cloud layer over the ocean near a distant land. Below, a massive fleet of warships forms a blockade and turns their guns towards the shore. At a nearby base, a conscript reports to his commander.

"Sir, we've spotted multiple Sorian warships close to our shore. One plane guards them."

"Only one?" questioned the commander, "If the Sorians want their princess back, they'll need more than a single bird protecting their boats. Send out our air force!"

The enemy air force takes to the skies. _That's our cue_, thought the Sorian F-15 pilot.

"Ships, begin the bombardment. All planes, let's get our princess back!" he calls. At command, the destroyers and battleships opened fire upon the enemy's beachhead. Meanwhile, the Akarian air force was in for a huge surprise. That one Eagle was not alone, and dozens, no hundreds of planes doves through the clouds and ambushed the attackers.

"Fox two! Fox two!" cried a female pilot, callsign Bliz in her F-16 Falcon. She fired a sidewinder, hitting an Akarian Tomcat in the nose.

"Great shot!" The Eagle pilot, callsign Kiba, congratulated Bliz.

In the days prior to this event, the Federation of Akaria kidnapped the princess of the Sorian Republic, demanding money, soldiers, and resources for her return. Negotiations began, but the country of Sora refused the demands. Akaria threatened to kill the princess, whose name was ironically Sora as well, and gave the country one week to give into demands. Should Sora refuse, the princess would be killed, and their most important citizen would be lost. Instead of peacefully negotiating, however, all out war ensued. Everything from covert operations to armored strike missions was tried in attempt to save the young girl, but none were victorious. Then it was time for the last resort.

Invasion and takeover.

The invasion of Akaria is where our story begins…

"STIR, what's the deal with the anti-air from the ground? They haven't fired a single shot at us." asked Kiba to the Sensor, Targeting, IFF, and Reconnaissance plane (and equivalent to AWACS).

"This is STIR Gold. Aegis sensors show that anti-aircraft is manned, and in range, but are not firing." said the leader of the STIR crew. Kiba pondered this for a couple seconds.

"It was a good plan they had, but it won't work." he said suddenly

"What do you mean?" asked a female Tornado pilot, callsign Sky Wolf.

"Alright, listen up people. They want us to get the princess back. The only reason they do is that so they can kill her. They plan on doing this by letting a helicopter in then shooting it down during its escape." said Kiba to all the Sorian units.

"If they want to kill Princess Sora so much, why not just do it there where she's being held?" Sky Wolf inquired.

"The reason is most likely to blow up our hopes as well at the rescue chopper. That's pretty cold." replied the Eagle pilot. Although the battle was loud, the thought of losing the princess made everything seem silent.

"Jonathan. You'll see her again, I promise." said the young Tornado pilot as she noticed Kiba's flying to get a little lazy.

"Thanks, Rai… "He said, straightening out his plane. "Ok. Sky Wolf, Bliz, come with me. We'll take out the air defense so our helicopters can get in. Once it's down, we'll personally save the princess."


	2. Act 2

Sora Ch

**Sora Ch. 2**

"Ready? DRIVE, DRIVE!" Kiba, Bliz, and Sky Wolf released their ADMM missiles, with each streak of light devastating all anti-air ground defense.

"One shot, thirty-six kills. I always love using those." said Bliz, making a barrel roll in her success.

"Air defense destroyed! Helicopter unit, move in. We've got a princess to rescue!" yelled Kiba, and the F-15, F-16, and Tornado, along with multiple AH-64 Apaches and a rescue CH-47 Chinook all flew towards the fortress where Princess Sora was being held.

"There's a long field to the southwest a ways away from the fortress. Lieutenant Archer, Lieutenant Okami and It will use that as a runway and land there. You take care of your part of the plan." Kiba, a.k.a. Captain Jonathan Storm relayed the orders to the chopper unit.

"Understood, sir." replied the Chinook pilot.

After landing, Jonathan, Lieutenant Bea Archer, and Lieutenant Rai Okami camouflaged their planes and moved towards the Akarian base. Night was falling…

Outside the twenty foot-high walls of the fortress, the three pilots had their backs against the cold concrete. Sentry lights passed back and forth just inches in front of them.

"You know, our SEALs could do just as good of a job at this as we can." whispered Bea.

"Yeah, but Princess Sora knows our faces. She may not trust anyone else." Jonathan reminded her. He took out a holographic blueprint of the fortress. The pilots' location, the location of the landed helicopter unit, and the probably holding place of the princess was displayed on the map. A fireball temporarily lit up the dark sky. _The battle's still going on,_ thought the Sorians.

"Alright," Jonathan's voice was low, "the first thing we need to do is take out these two guard towers. I'll hit one, you two take the other. After that, we'll take some guard uniforms and infiltrate the cell block. Silence anyone who seems like they suspect we're not guards. We'll claim to be relieving the guards there of duty, and free Princess Sora then."

"Ok, but what do you mean by 'silence'?" asked Bea. Jonathan simply glared at her. She knew what it meant.

Using grapples, the Sorian pilots easily scaled the towers, and eliminated the soldiers there with little conflict. Once the O.K. was given, and everyone had changed into guard uniforms (which fit surprisingly well), the three exited the towers normally, so as to not draw any attention. Being as casual as possible, they made a beeline towards the area marked "POW complex". Upon entering an emplacement, however, they found that the prisoners actually looked well, and were wearing Akarian uniforms! Going into a mess hall, which was nearly deserted due to the outside battle, Jonathan, Bea, and Rai decided to ask around. Rai approached one of the nicer looking prisoners.

"Hey." she greeted him.

"Oh, hi! We don't get many female soldiers here. It's mostly men, so the action's not too great, if you know what I mean." replied the prisoner. Rai looked puzzled.

"They let you prisoners _do _that with the guards?" she asked.

"What? Oh, no, I'm not a prisoner. You're obviously new," the young man then said something under his breath about rookies, "the sign says POW camp, but the above ground area is for Akarian soldiers."

"Above ground?" Rai mimicked.

"Yes, the prison in this base is underground. If it was the other way around, we wouldn't be able to… subdue prisoners trying to escape." the soldier explained. Even though he said "subdued", Rai had a pretty good feeling of what he meant.

"Care to, you know, show me around down there? I have a couple friends that could use the tour too. The name's Chi, by the way." said Rai. _That was great, I didn't even think that hard! _She smiled to herself. Rai then went over to retrieve her teammates.

"No need to look around anymore; I found a soldier that'll show us the cells! Once we find the princess we'll fake him out and then, bang! We've got our girl back!"

"That's great, Rai!" exclaimed Jonathan. Rai shushed him.

"Quiet! It's Chi until we get out of here." Just then, the soldier Rai met came behind them.

"These must be your friends, am I right?" he asked.

"Yeah, this is Jay and—"

"I'm Bea!" Bea interrupted. Jonathan gave her a little slap on the head.

"Ouch! Baile, I meant Baile." she corrected herself, rubbing the back of her head.

"Very well, Privates Chi, Jay, and Baile. I'm Sergeant Tom Shilsky. I'm actually a pilot." the man, now known as Tom said. The Sorians in disguise and the Akarian pilot made their way down what seemed like hundreds of steps to a dimly lit corridor with a near blood red glow. Even though the walls were metal, artillery and machine gun fire shook the basement. Looking around, Jonathan pointed out:

"There doesn't seem to be anyone in the cells."

"That's because there's no one to put in there. It's shameful to say, but we've never captured anyone except… you know." said Tom.

"Princess Sora." said the Sorians in unison. Tom raised an eyebrow.

"I guess they do teach you rookies something. Anyways, you guys have earned my trust. Can you keep a secret?" Jonathan, Bea, and Rai looked at each other. Their faces all said "What is he talking about?"

"Yeah, sure. What is it?" asked Jonathan. Tom looked around and got really low. He motioned for the other three to do the same.

"I want to free the princess." he whispered, in almost a hiss. The Sorians in disguise gasped. "I know, I know, it's against all Akaria stands for, but I just can't let such a beautiful girl be cooped up like this!" Tom defended himself. Jonathan tensed.

"The truth is… I love her." confessed the Akarian. Now Jonathan's fists were clenched, and he seemed to be stifling back a rude remark. But then something hit him. This could be used to their advantage.

"Tom," said Jonathan, "how would you like to defect?" Tom looked just as surprised as Jonathan's friends. Before he could say anything, though, Jonathan admitted him and the other Sorians' identity.

"We are actually Sorian pilots on a special mission to free Princess Sora. We've successfully completed most of our task but this is the last part: Rescue and evacuation. With you on our side this mission will be completed hours ahead of schedule. Are you in?" all was silent for many moments besides the sounds of war from above. Finally, Rai spoke.

"It's not like you have a choice, though. Now that you know who we are, we'll have to kill you if you don't help us." Tom sighed, "Of course I'm in. I'll do anything to help Princess Sora." With this agreement, the four now allies continued to the cell. The walls of it were thick, as was the door, which had multiple security devices on it, but there were no guards. Not even any cameras.

"No one's here. Are you guys that confident that no one will break in?" asked Bea.

"Lucky for us, yes," laughed Tom, "there _would _actually be guards here, but they're probably out on the frontlines. We're containing a girl, not a monster." The Sorians kept watch as Tom put in combinations and codes to open the dozens of locks that sealed the door. Suddenly, they heard footsteps. A couple of soldiers turned the corner and saw the four rebels.

"Hey! What are you guys doing?" called one of them.

"Just showing these rookies our prisoner." said Tom as calmly as possible. The guards narrowed their eyes.

"Yeah, right. All of you are under arrest—agh!" one of the soldiers clutched his chest and fell to the ground. Bea had her eyes shut tight, pointing a smoking pistol at the other one.

"You can shoot down a million planes perfectly, but you had to shoot a single person with your eyes closed?" scolded Rai.

"I-I need backup! Rebels in the prison! They're freeing the princess!" called the other guard into his radio. Tom just got the door open, and Rai shot the other guard.

"Quick, let's get her out of here!" ordered Rai. Sora was asleep.

"I can't, she's asleep!" said Jonathan.

"Pick her up and carry her, for God's sake, let's move!" yelled Rai. Jonathan scooped her up and the four pilots began running towards the exit. About six Akarian guards burst through at the last minute. Bea, Rai, and Tom proceeded to fight them with hand to hand combat. As soon as they were taken care of, the allies dashed towards the western entrance of the fortress, where they had entered. Sirens wailed and bullets rained down on them. This was enough to stir the princess.

"J-Jonathan? Where are we, what are you doing?" she asked sleepily. Then reality struck. "YOU'RE BREAKING ME OUT? ARE YOU NUTS!?" she yelled.

"There's no time to argue, Sora-hime. Can you run?" said Jonathan as they hid behind a hangar close to the gate, which was wide open. He put the princess down.

"Of course I can," said Sora, dusting herself off, "I'm a princess, not crippled." So the five began running, sprinting really towards the western gate. But they had been spotted, and the gate was beginning to close.

"It's closing too fast! We're not gonna make it!" cried Bea.

"The hell we are! Keep running!" said Jonathan. One, two, three, four, five. All five got through the gate and found their way to the field where the planes remained untouched.

"Sora will fly with me. Tom, you'll have to go with Rai because her plane is the only one with room." said Jonathan. Tom nodded his head.

"No need. I've got my plane right here." he patted his pocket. Then he took out something that looked like a tiny cube. Even though the dawn light was coming, visibility was still low. Tom threw the cube and it unfolded and grew until it took the form of a beautiful F-22 Raptor.

"Whoa." said Bea.

"That's standard issue for all Akarian pilots. It's how we get organized so quickly, but you didn't hear it from me!"

"Yes we did. You're one of us now." Said Jonathan as he climbed into his Eagle. Tank treads could be heard through the trees. Then a shell barely missed the camouflaged planes.

"We're gonna want to get out of here real fast!" said Rai.

"Activate VTOL!" ordered Jonathan, and the thrusters of the planes pointed downwards, allowing the planes to take off vertically, and thus, very quickly. Even in the air, though, AA battered the planes on their escape.

"Helicopter unit! We've got the princess! Get out of there now! Tanks are headed to your position!" called Jonathan over his radio.

"Understood, sir. We're evacuating the area." replied the CH-47 pilot. Just as thought, the planes were taken as decoys, and the CH-47 was shot down. But the pilot wasn't in it. He was with another helicopter, which the AA ignored, confident that they had shot down the chopper containing the princess.

Soon everyone was safely in the air approaching the carrier.

"Jonathan, Rai, Bea… I can't thank you enough for saving me. This war can finally come to an end. And you, the Akarian pilot. What's your name?" asked Sora.

"Tom Shilsky, milady. Now that you're safe, we can be together!" Tom exclaimed. The Sorians laughed.

"You haven't figured it out yet, Tom?" Rai chuckled.

"What?"

"Sora's already been taken."

"By who?"

"Above the storm is the clear blue sky." said Jonathan.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Chi, Baile, and Jay aren't our real names. I'm Lieutenant Rai Okami. The young one is Lieutenant Bea Archer, and the one doing barrel rolls in front of us…"

"Captain Jonathan Storm. Ace pilot and fiancé to none other than Princess Sora." Jonathan boasted.

"I'll be really sick at the wedding if you don't stop flying like this!" said Sora. Everyone laughed. Just then, STIR radioed in.

"This is STIR Gold. IFF shows you've got an Akarian plane on your six. Permission granted to engage."

"No need, STIR Gold. This one's on our side. Tell the carrier not to open fire, repeat, do not open fire." said Jonathan.

"Affirmative, Kiba. The landing lane is open and you can land with the princess." replied STIR Gold. All planes landed, and every Sorian unit on land, sea, or air, retreated. Akarians cheered in celebration of victory, confident that the princess was dead and the Sorians had lost hope, but in reality, it was a victory for the Sorian Republic.

Thanks to the skill of Jonathan Storm, Bea Archer, Rai Okami, and Tom Shilsky, Sora had their princess back, and the retreat ended up being a grand homecoming. In the Sorian capital, a grand ceremony was held to celebrate the return of Sora. Up above, the four heroes did a fly-by, which got thunderous applause. Tom Shilsky was inducted as a Sergeant in the Sorian army, and granted citizenship, also finding love of his own. Bea formed a strong friendship with Sora, and to this day they are almost never apart. Rai was promoted to Captain of her own squadron, but rarely goes on missions unless Bea and Jonathan are involved as well. As for Princess Sora and Jonathan, they live happily together when Jonathan is not in the air, with two daughters named Luna and Bella.

The Sora-Akaria war has ended, and the two countries are now allies. Our heroes are revered in both countries, and the Sky has never looked more beautiful.


End file.
